Spectator marathon transportation?????

[1dorseer]

My Dad and I are going to watch my sister do the 2014 marathon. We are staying at the Poly. We are not doing a CHEAR PACKAGE. We would like to catch her in the MK and then head to Epcot and try to take a bus to WWoS and catch her before she enters there. We heard their may be marathon buses running sunday from epcot to WWoS is that true?. Second option is to catch her at the Beach/yacht club resort. If I take the monorail to Epcot is there a way to walk around outside of it to these areas?

 

[joelkfla]

Yes, there will be buses running from Epcot to EWWS.

No, you can't walk from the front of Epcot to the Epcot Resorts, unless it's after park opening and you have park admission for the day. The easiest way to get between the two is a taxi. The other option is to take the bus from Epcot to DHS and then the boat to the resort. I don't know whether walking from DHS to the resorts will be possible, since the runners will be on the walkway.

After MK opens, you should be able to take a bus from either MK or TTC (depending on how far the race has progressed) to Yacht/Beach. All MK bus service is relocated to TTC until the runners clear CR.

I suggest you download the Official Event Guide, if your sister hasn't already done so.

1. Follow this link: http://www.rundisney.com/disneyworld-marathon/
2. Scroll down one screen, & you'll see a horizontal menu
3. Click on "RUNNER INFO"
4. Click on "Official Event Guide", which will come up on a 2nd level menu right below RUNNER INFO
5. Click on the download link

Be patient; it's a large, complex pdf document. I got a pdf error when downloading, but I was still able to read the document after clicking "OK" to ignore the error.

On page 62, there's a 2-page spread about suggested spectator view locations, and how to get to them. (That's p.62 as printed in the document, not p.62 of the pdf file.) It also lists the estimated arrival times for the first & last runners. Elsewhere in the document, there's useful info about event transportation on race days.

 

[francie57]

As pp said, there are buses running to WWOS from Epcot. Just be award that it will take awhile to get there and much much longer to get back to Epcot. We were going to do this last year, but once the CMs told us the trip back from WWOS could take an hour by bus we decided not to do it since we would miss our DD finishing the marathon. We just waited on the last bend by the Epcot entrance for her to go buy. We were thinking of going into Epcot to watch or try the BW area since that is were we stay but the problem there, again, we would not be at the finish when she got there. The timing of getting to and from WWOS also depends on how fast your sister will be running. WWOS sports is mile 20 so that only leave 6.2 miles and if she runs at a good pace you would probably miss the finish. As I said, we thought about it but since our daughter averages a 9 min. mile we would never have made it back.

 

[StayAwake]

The finish line will be extremely crowded- between all of the people who have paid for CHEAR packages and those who only come to the finish- it will be very difficult to see your runner cross the finish line if you are trying to see them at multiple other locations.

My brother ran Goofy last year, and for the marathon, we saw him on Main Street at Magic Kingdom, outside of Animal Kingdom, and then split up- I went to cheer outside of Hollywood Studios, and G ended up going inside EPCOT and cheering to the side of Spaceship Earth, because he couldn't get another spot close enough to the finish that my brother would have been able to see him. I grabbed the bus from HS to EPCOT to try to make it and ended up missing him by 45 seconds or so.

For reference, he ran a 4:05, which is a 9:21 pace.

I'd figure out what does your runner really want from you as a cheering section- does she want to see you at the finish? Does she need encouragement mid-way through? And then tailor your cheering plan for that.

Enjoy, and I hope she has a great race!

PS- Dole Whips from Captain Cooks make early morning cheering much more tolerable.

 

[dburg30]

The finish line will be extremely crowded- between all of the people who have paid for CHEAR packages and those who only come to the finish- it will be very difficult to see your runner cross the finish line if you are trying to see them at multiple other locations.

My brother ran Goofy last year, and for the marathon, we saw him on Main Street at Magic Kingdom, outside of Animal Kingdom, and then split up- I went to cheer outside of Hollywood Studios, and G ended up going inside EPCOT and cheering to the side of Spaceship Earth, because he couldn't get another spot close enough to the finish that my brother would have been able to see him. I grabbed the bus from HS to EPCOT to try to make it and ended up missing him by 45 seconds or so.

For reference, he ran a 4:05, which is a 9:21 pace.

I'd figure out what does your runner really want from you as a cheering section- does she want to see you at the finish? Does she need encouragement mid-way through? And then tailor your cheering plan for that.

Enjoy, and I hope she has a great race!

PS- Dole Whips from Captain Cooks make early morning cheering much more tolerable.

Being a participant in this years race, I will 2nd the bolded. I initially thought it would be really cool to see my family cheering my old slow butt on a few different spots. Then i realized that even though I'm slow they would need to get up EARLY to get to most spots. So what I've decided is for them to just meet me at epcot for the finish. If they see me along the course, fine, if not, fine, I just want them around the finish line for me. If it's a successful weekend I want them there to celebrate with me!! If it doesnt go so well I will need them there for some emotional, and possibly physical support lol. So to me it's more important for them to be at the finish line. And it means they can kick back and relax before heading out.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Make sure you sign up for the notifications during the race to text your phone. This allowed my partner to track where I was during the race instead of just estimating.